Not long ago, I shared an update on the redevelopment plans for Queens Landing, which are set to bring a fresh new chapter to that part of Lake Norman. At the same time, the two former cruise vessels that once operated there—The Lady of the Lake and Catawba Queen—have become the focus of an ongoing legal dispute. After the property was sold in 2022, the boats were left behind and are now anchored about a mile southwest of the Lake Norman Yacht Club.

In October 2025, Duke Energy filed a federal lawsuit seeking their removal, citing concerns over safety, environmental risk, and the possibility of the vessels breaking loose. The owner has pushed back, arguing the case belongs in state court and that there’s no clear evidence of current issues, and as of now, there have been no confirmed reports of environmental damage.

I’ll be honest—I do like seeing these boats out on the lake. They’re a reminder of what that area used to be. But it also raises a fair question: how long can something like that realistically sit out there, essentially abandoned? It’s not all that different from leaving a car in a private parking lot and expecting it to just stay indefinitely.

I was once part of a conversation between a waterfront homeowner and a Duke representative over a shoreline dispute. The homeowner said, “You’ll be hearing from my attorney,” and the response was, “Go ahead—you’ll be hearing from our 200 attorneys.” That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how these situations tend to go.

Guess we’ll have to wait to see how it all plays out.